June 27, 2011

Karina asked me, her mom, to update her  blog.  I will try to relate the facts, but it will lack her unique personality :)

"Friends used to tease me about going to Africa and delivering babies in mud huts.  Well, I got to do that Wed. night for the first time.  The family, then, told her to get up (from the dirt floor) and get in the boat so they could all go home.

On Thursday, Nurse Betty and I traveled to Namiti Island (the location of the new clinic I'm helping to open) and cleaned and cleaned the clinic....termites, lizards, dead bats, etc.

We opened the clinic on Friday, and I learned that nursing training in the States is very different than in Africa.  Antibiotics and anti-malarial meds are given for anything and everything.  I was so frustrated by Sat. I just wanted to cry and go home.  But, instead, ofcourse, I prayed.  The Lord began to speak to my heart about my purpose here.  It isn't to see to it that everything is done the 'right' way like I thought it was, but to learn to love and serve.  A huge burden was lifted from my shoulders, and I feel so free and at peace.

On Sunday, I was told that we were going to the church near the clinic, but that they only prayed and sang for three hours.  When I told them how long the worship services were at home, they said that we must not pray much.

We found a pregnant l5-year-old on the ground outside the clinic Sunday night in a lot of pain.  She was about to lose her baby at 5 mos. gestation.  While we were getting a bed ready for her to spend the night the baby dropped onto the concrete floor but was alive.  I wrapped it up and held it while it struggled to breathe.  When the parents showed up we learned that the father (the muslim leader of the island) had been giving his daughter abortive injections.  The girl said the he was not an abusive father (like so many were) but truly cared for her.  I held the baby for about an hour, then sent it home with the family where it died later that night.

Today, I've been visiting with my pastor's family near the clinic.  They are so wonderful to me.

Thanks to a solar panel we have a few hours of electricity at night and early morning!"